Back-up alarms are required on construction vehicles by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), on mining vehicles by the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and on ambulances generally by Federal Contract “K” specifications. A number of states require back-up alarms on commercial vehicles. California (MVC 27,000) and Illinois require back-up alarms on garbage trucks. New York and Ohio require back-up alarms on school busses. Hawaii requires back-up alarms for delivery (e.g. UPS/FedEx) vehicles. Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations requires back-up lights on most classifications of over the highway trucks. Such alarms must meet published standards for sound emission levels. Back up alarms acceptable under the regulations are manufactured to meet the Society of Automotive Engineers standard, SAE J994b, for sound emission levels, among other requirements.
Back-up alarms are commonly attached to a motor vehicle by bolting the alarms to the frame or other body member in a rearward facing position. Back-up lights are normally installed as an integral part of the vehicle body or bumper. The inventor's prior invention, U.S. Pat. No. 4,994,800, is an exception as the alarms can now be mounted in a standard hole at the rear of the vehicle.
All major truck lighting manufacturers build many models of back-up lights that are attached to the vehicle by way of screws, bolts or, as in the TruckLite Model 40, within a rubber grommet of the same kind that can be used to attach a back-up alarm covered under U.S. Pat. No. 4,994,800. Light sources are commonly protected from damage and dirt by transparent covers, which are frequently unsuitable for covering alarm devices due to sound absorption and distortion properties of the cover.
Back up alarms and lights receive power from a common source and are activated simultaneously. It would be most practical if they were collocated because there frequently are restrictions on space and suitable mounting points available at the rear of commercial vehicles. To meet this need, the present invention provides a single-unit warning and lighting device that can be efficiently manufactured and installed as a replacement for an existing light or alarm on a vehicle without requiring any structural modification of the vehicle.
Further, most pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles come factory equipped with a trailer hitch receiver, which consists of a permanently mounted socket, typically square, into which a trailer hitch apparatus may be inserted when desired for use, and removed when not needed. Although many of these vehicles are sold for commercial use, many are family vehicles. Most of the vehicles are used without a trailer hitch a good part of the time. Although back-up alarms may not be required for these vehicles, it would be desirable to install an alarm, without drilling holes or otherwise modifying the vehicle, by using the hitch receiver. It would also be desirable, for example, to install an additional tail light, stop light, back-up light or other device in the hitch receiver. An embodiment of the present invention provides a vehicle-in-motion warning alarm or/and light that fits without modification into the trailer hitch receiver.